Improving Daily Living Skills in People With Autism Spectrum Disorder Through a Personalised Serious Game

NCT ID: NCT04295746

Last Updated: 2020-07-23

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: UNKNOWN
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 10 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2019-03-01
• Study Completion Date: 2021-09-30

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the efficacy of a rehabilitation intervention for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder through an individualised serious game developed for improving skills related to a specific daily living activity: shopping in a supermarket.

Detailed Description

Serious games are innovative computer-based interventions to support children and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, few studies have assessed the efficacy of these interventions in real-life contexts. The present study investigates the generalisation of daily living skills related to shopping activities after a rehabilitation intervention administered via a personalised serious game (ShopAut). The underlying hypothesis of this study is that training with an individualised serious game can improve performance in a real-life environment. In order to prove this hypothesis, a small sample of subjects with ASD will play an individualised serious game, ShopAut, for ten sessions. Subjects will undergo real-life experiences in a supermarket pre- and post-virtual training to determine whether there had been a generalisation of skills from the virtual environment to the real environment. Improvements in skills and performance in the real shopping activity are evaluated using specific tools.

The serious game ShopAut is developed integrating an individualised design that provides both the personalisation of the game's scenario, contents, difficulty, and user interface; and the customisation of game modes, player perspectives, and input devices. It is a three-dimensional game that provides a realistic shopping experience where the player can practice and engage with, above all, shopping activities, experiment their problem-solving skills, and take on unexpected events.

Conditions

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Serious Game ShopAut

Each participant played 10 game sessions, one per week, for no more than 30 minutes.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Serious Game ShopAut

Intervention Type: OTHER

The serious game ShopAut, is a three-dimensional game conceptually based on classic 3D life simulation games. ShopAut aims to teach players the procedure of a shopping activity; to reinforce object categorization and recognition in a supermarket; to improve attention, orientation, and problem-solving skills; and to help the player engage in simple economic transactions.

The intervention provides a virtual training with ShopAut to train, experiment, and practice behaviours and actions that can be then transferred in real-life contexts.

Interventions

Serious Game ShopAut

The serious game ShopAut, is a three-dimensional game conceptually based on classic 3D life simulation games. ShopAut aims to teach players the procedure of a shopping activity; to reinforce object categorization and recognition in a supermarket; to improve attention, orientation, and problem-solving skills; and to help the player engage in simple economic transactions.

The intervention provides a virtual training with ShopAut to train, experiment, and practice behaviours and actions that can be then transferred in real-life contexts.

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• clinical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, in keeping with the diagnostic criteria of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V)
• chronological age between 8 and 16 years
• a rehabilitation plan already underway in accordance with the study's goals
• Representatives of parental authority who gave informed written consent
• native Italian speakers

Exclusion Criteria

• no physical impairments
• participant to another research protocol
• known organic syndrome and/or non-stabilized neuropediatric (e.g. seizures) or medical (e.g. diabetes mellitus) comorbidities

• Minimum Eligible Age: 8 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 16 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Federico II University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Ersilia Vallefuoco

PhD

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Alessandro Pepino

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Federico II University

Locations

University of Naples Federico II - Centro Medico Riabilitativo Pompei

Naples, , Italy

Countries

Italy

Other Identifiers

9820

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id